Jon Mayer is an American jazz pianist and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Early years

Mayer graduated from the High School of Music and Art in Manhattan and briefly attended the Manhattan School of Music

Manhattan School of Music

The Manhattan School of Music is a major music conservatory located on the Upper West Side of New York City. The school offers degrees on the bachelors, masters, and doctoral levels in the areas of classical and jazz performance and composition...

.

In the '50s he was a frequently appearing member of the NYC music scene, playing with Kenny Dorham

Kenny Dorham

McKinley Howard Dorham was an American jazz trumpeter, singer, and composer born in Fairfield, Texas. Dorham's talent is frequently lauded by critics and other musicians, but he never received the kind of attention from the jazz establishment that many of his peers did...

, Tony Scott

Tony Scott (musician)

Tony Scott was a jazz clarinetist known for an interest in folk music around the world...

 (replacing Bill Evans

Bill Evans

William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...

), Pete LaRoca and Ray Draper

Ray Draper

Raymond Allen Draper was an American hard bop tuba player.-Biography:Draper attended the Manhattan School of Music in the mid-1950s. As a leader, he recorded his first album, Tuba Sounds , at the age of 16, with a quintet...

.
He recorded with Jackie McLean

Jackie McLean

John Lenwood McLean was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader and educator, born in New York City.-Biography:McLean's father, John Sr., played guitar in Tiny Bradshaw's orchestra...

 and John Coltrane

John Coltrane

John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...

.

1960s and 1970s

In the '60s and '70s, Mayer remained active, playing in both New York and Europe with the Thad Jones

Thad Jones

Thaddeus Joseph Jones was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader.-Biography:Thad Jones was born in Pontiac, Michigan to a musical family of ten . Thad Jones was a self taught musician, performing professionally by the age of sixteen...

 / Mel Lewis

Mel Lewis

Mel Lewis was an American drummer, jazz musician and band leader. He was born Melvin Sokoloff in Buffalo, New York to Russian immigrant parents....

 Jazz Orchestra, Dionne Warwick

Dionne Warwick

Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health....

, Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Vaughan

Sarah Lois Vaughan was an American jazz singer, described by Scott Yanow as having "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century."...

 and the Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer

The Manhattan Transfer is an American vocal music group. There have been two manifestations of the group, with Tim Hauser being the only person to be part of both...

. During those days he wrote songs recorded by Les McCann

Les McCann

Les McCann is an American soul jazz piano player and vocalist whose biggest successes came as a crossover artist into R&B and soul.-Biography:...

 and Nancy Wilson.

Silent years

Mayer then entered a 13-year period of inactivity during which he rarely performed. In his repertoire there is a song called Rip Van Winkle

Rip Van Winkle

"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon...

 which refers to this period of his life.

1990s

In 1991 Mayer returned to music. He settled in Los Angeles and recorded "Round Up The Usual Suspects" in 1995, a piano trio session with Ron Carter

Ron Carter

Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...

 and Billy Higgins

Billy Higgins

Billy Higgins was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958...

.

Mayer currently lives in Southern California, leading his trio with occasional appearances of Ernie Watts

Ernie Watts

Ernest James "Ernie" Watts is an American jazz and rhythm and blues musician. He plays saxophone and flute. He might be best known for his work with Charlie Haden's Quartet West and his Grammy Awards as an instrumentalist...

Discography

Round Up the Usual Suspects (1995) - with Ron Carter

Ron Carter

Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...

, Billy Higgins

Billy Higgins

Billy Higgins was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop.Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, beginning in 1958...

Do It Like This (1998)

Rip Van Winkle (2000)

Full Circle (2002)- with Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid is an American jazz bassist, educator, and composer. He lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.-Personal history:...

, Victor Lewis

Victor Lewis

Victor Lewis is an American jazz drummer, a major force in the genre since the 1980s.-As leader:*1992: Family Portrait - with John Stubblefield, Edward Simon, Cecil McBee, Don Alias, Jumma Santos...

 

The Classics (2004) - Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid is an American jazz bassist, educator, and composer. He lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.-Personal history:...

, Willie Jones III

Rip Van Winkle (2004) - Live at the Jazz Bakery

Strictly Confidential (2005)

My Romance (2006) - with Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid is an American jazz bassist, educator, and composer. He lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.-Personal history:...

, Dick Berk

Dick Berk

Richard Alan "Dick" Berk is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.Berk studied at the Berklee College of Music and played in the Boston area early in the 1960s. In 1962 he moved to New York City and played there with Ted Curson and Bill Barron in a quintet from 1962 to 1964...

So Many Stars (2007) - with Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid is an American jazz bassist, educator, and composer. He lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.-Personal history:...

, Roy McCurdy

Roy McCurdy

Roy McCurdy, born November 28, 1936 in Rochester, New York, is a jazz drummer.Before joining Cannonball Adderley's Quintet in 1965 and staying with the band until Adderley's death in 1975, he had played with Chuck and Gap Mangione in the Jazz Brothers , as well as with Bobby Timmons, Betty Carter...

Nightscape (2009) - with Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid

Rufus Reid is an American jazz bassist, educator, and composer. He lives in Teaneck, New Jersey.-Personal history:...

, Roy McCurdy

Roy McCurdy

Roy McCurdy, born November 28, 1936 in Rochester, New York, is a jazz drummer.Before joining Cannonball Adderley's Quintet in 1965 and staying with the band until Adderley's death in 1975, he had played with Chuck and Gap Mangione in the Jazz Brothers , as well as with Bobby Timmons, Betty Carter...

External links

• http://www.jonmayer.com/